Poppies again
Posted: June 6, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized 29 CommentsI’m so happy I spent another morning in Susanne’s garden painting the poppies, in gouache once again, on a block of Winsor & Newton paper. I didn’t do much drawing, instead choosing to grab a paintbrush and try to capture the red shapes that seemed to float like butterflies over the greenery. Reds can be so difficult in watercolour, at least for me. They seem to lose their saturation once they hit the paper and are never this bright. As for the real poppies, they don’t last long in the best of times, but yesterday we had a huge thunderstorm in Montreal and by evening these were flattened!
Shari Blaukopf's Sketchbook 
I love poppies too! These are enough to inspire me to try them!! I have not tried guache so will use my watercolors (cadmium red and maybe alizarin??? I think you said you started with yellow first in your last post.
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Susie, thanks so much! For these poppies I used lots of red (both cad and alizarin) also cad orange and cad yellow.
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Absolutely gorgeous!
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Thanks so much Gretta!
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It’s so great that you got to memorialize these flowers before they were destroyed.
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I feel fortunate to have seen and sketched this display too! There’s something so amazing about poppies. It must be that intense red that just draws me in!
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You nailed the color of those poppies!
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Thanks so much!
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I love the choice of greens and how they set off and affect the orange of the poopies. Such great depth and dimensions. Lots of energy in the brushstrokes. You got it!
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Thanks Alison! Glad I did this before the storm!
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beautiful! dear shari, i would like to buy a book from you. can you recommend one of yours for beginners in aquarell-drawing?
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HI. Thanks so much for asking! My book is about colour in sketching. Here’s the link: https://www.amazon.ca/Urban-Sketching-Handbook-Techniques-Watercolor/dp/1631596802/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1AV4502EM5BVA&dchild=1&keywords=shari+blaukopf&qid=1623496774&sprefix=blaukopf%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-1
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thank you.
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Shari, those poppies are ah-mazing! And gone? Just like that, eh? Thank goodness you got to capture that glorious colour just in time. And capture it you did, wow!
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Thanks! Yes, here and gone. Glad I painted them a few times. It’s a long wait until next year!
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Good Morning dear friend Shari,
It is indeed a lovely sketch. You have used all the colors, with your amazing artistic caliber.
So lovely to look at, as if standing in front of them.
Blessings
Uma
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Thanks so much Uma.
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Beautiful! You captured fleeting beauty.
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I did! Thanks for having a look Bernadette.
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Beautiful!
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Thanks Cindy!
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Stunning painting!
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Thank you Heidi!
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I am feeling a class in gouache flowers in the works 🙂 A little story. I have a cat Leo who is addicted to pigments. He can smell them a mile away and I have to be careful with my watercolors. Today I got my box of beautiful Holbein gouache tubes, and an extra….very expensive!…tube of cerulean blue. I’ve had the paints out admiring them as I do some swatching in the bedroom tonight. I just noticed blue on Leo’s foot. ??? Investigation has revealed a TOOTH PUNCH in my brand new tube of cerulean blue. A bit of gorilla glue on the outside of the tube should seal it up (I hope). Meanwhile, I’m enrolling Leo in Pigment Addicts Anonymous.
At least I’m ready to paint skies now! 😉
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OMG – Leo is a RASCAL….!
I get it too ‘cos I’ve just received a new set of WN gouache – birthday gift 🙂 – like investing in gold – LOL :).
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Tracy, that is such a great story. What a devil! I wonder what it is about the pigments that he loves. Does he try to eat them?
As for Cerulean Blue, yes, it is crazy expensive.
I didn’t realize it until I had to buy a new tube recently. In watercolour it is not one of the more expensive colours, but I also had sticker shock when I got to the cash at my local art store.
You need to seal up those tubes in a lockbox!!
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There is something “soil like” about pigments that he likes…he does seem to have a special affinity for earth pigments and my primateks. Leo was a feral kitten I rescued at 5 months. By the time I caught him, I knew he was a real forager/survivor and would eat worms among other things. The most expensive kitten I’ve ever had…he had lungworm and pneumonia. After three months of treatment for that, we had a short break and then he had feline leprosy! Which he survived with surgery and LOTS of antibiotics. It’s very rare and he was super lucky.. He got it from…the SOIL (the bacteria is common in the soil, but only an immunocompromised kitten/cat would actually contract the disease). Long story here, but….he is an indoor cat these days and I expect he would like to go grub around a bit so my paints are his next best thing 😉
And yes, the paint tubes are now all secured in a snaplock container!
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So loose – I love how you left so much white on the canvas, unless you inserted it afterwards. Ahh…..gouache :).
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I like that last “Ahh” Mary. I know you like gouache too!!
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